Getting Personal with the Personal Statement

While most people are suffering from the flu, I am suffering from a lesser known super bug: the personal statement. Whether it is for graduate school, internships or a job, personal statements tend to become the bane of many people’s existence. As a writing tutor, I am very comfortable with taking on a ten page, APA style paper, but make me write a five-hundred word essay about my life and I’ll be suffering from writer’s block within five minutes. In fact, I should actually be writing a personal statement right now!

A depiction of my dorm when writing a personal statement.
Source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxsa87a5Nm1qd9a66o1_500.jpg

Not all is lost in this uphill battle with the personal statement, there are many resources around. Obviously, the Writing Center offers help on all sorts of papers, including entrance essays and statements. Additionally, Cedar Crest College’s Academic Services and Career Planning Services provide step-by-step guides on how to create a five-hundred word essay about you. Still stumped? Try SmartThinking, Academic Services new 24/7 online tutoring service. Writing tutors are standing by to help review your papers and give timely feedback. I even tried it once and got fantastic results.

So when it comes to writing personal statements, don’t resort to this:    

                                                                                                                                                                 

Use the resources around you and just keep writing!

-Lindsay 

An Acquired Taste

Authored by Lindsey Burke, Writing Consultant

Writing is an acquired taste.   

But don't be discouraged if you haven't found an appreciation for it, yet.  College is the perfect time to try and gain enjoyment in each new exposure.  Everyone can discover an interest in writing, though for some, it may simply require more or less time to develop.   

I know students who had lost their distaste for writing in high school, finding a certain sweetness in a task that so many of us deemed bitter and downright dreadful.  Assigned essay topics could be so wild and outlandish, typically inspiring such reactions as "What's the point?  Is my teacher crazy?  If I want to be, oh say, a dentist, then why on earth must I read and write about Julius Caesar, The Scarlet Letter, and Death of a Salesman?  It won't make me a better dentist!"  I didn't see the meaning of the practice, and it wasn't until my freshman year of college that I finally experienced a shift in mentality and felt a fondness for academic writing.  

As always, the topic seemed absurd.  We had to argue whether technology helps or hurts our intelligence... by using a magical monkey from a Chinese folk tale and Google as our only sources of evidence!  As per tradition, I did not see a purpose in the assignment.  How on earth was I supposed to convince an ordinary person of my claim, using such silly (and seemingly unrelated) pieces of evidence? 

The class was responsible for submitting a rough draft to be reviewed by the professor, and though the draft grades were not recorded, they were supposed to give us an idea of the success of our arguments at that stage.  My rough draft earned a C, and naturally I was devastated by the red letter that represented my work.   

Seeing that grade beside my name forced me to consider and confess; I didn't take the assignment seriously, and (regrettably) the verb "BS" was the most accurate way to describe how I wrote the paper.  I felt embarrassed, but thankful for a second chance.  I knew I needed to change my strategy (if you call "BS-ing" a strategy) and my outlook on writing essays in general.   

The assignment challenged me to collect every possible piece of evidence from the texts that was related to the topic and my claim.  But in order to organize them to create a compelling and interesting argument, I forced myself to think as far outside the box as I was capable of extending.  And then something had finally occurred to me; for the first time I wondered if these bizarre essay topics functioned as tests of our creativity.     

Aside from practicing basic writing skills, these essays can help train us to think critically, be creative as heck, and challenge us to compose something original and unlike anything our teachers have seen from another student.  As soon as I adopted this outlook, I no longer felt silly for writing about Google and a magical Chinese monkey.  I was happy and confident that the message I communicated was innovative and convincing.  It was the first essay I felt truly proud of, and it was also my first A on a college paper. 

I “acquired a taste” for writing by finding something about the process that I enjoyed.  By trying it again and giving it a true chance, I decided it’s not so bad, after all!

10 Tidbits of Inspiration

As a senior getting ready to write a thesis paper, I need some inspiration before taking my research to that next laborious step. While perusing the Internet recently, I found a few things that are nice reminders about the writing process.

Even though I write pretty well, I still (occasionally) find myself waking up in the middle of the night from being hunted by the Writing Monster (It may actually live under my bed, since there are snacks and amenities down there. Dorm life =/).

These quotes are great for academic and creative writers alike, and who knows --it may give you the same boost as it is giving me.

1. GET STARTED/ FIND INSPIRATION

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
Benjamin Franklin

2. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS

 

I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done.                            
Steven Wright

3. …BUT DO NOT PROCRASTINATE

Writing is a dreadful labor, yet not so dreadful as Idleness.
Thomas Carlyle

4. KEEP CALM, BECAUSE:

There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.
Anthony Trollope

5. DON’T FORGET TRANSITIONS AND FACTS!

Writing has to support itself.
V. S. Naipaul

6. READ OFTEN:

There is creative reading as well as creative writing.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

7. BE A GOOD LISTENER:

Everything in writing begins with language. Language begins with listening.
Jeanette Winterson

8. WRITE WITH YOUR BUDS:

Even when I'm writing plays, I enjoy having company and mentally I think of that company as the company I'm writing for.
Wole Soyinka

I like sitting and writing with my buddies.
Adam Sandler

9. TAKE BREAKS AND HAVE A GOOD LAUGH, LIKE:

That isn't writing at all, it's typing.
Truman Capote

I am a drinker with writing problems.
Brendan Behan

10. ONCE YOU GET INTO IT, DON’T LET IT ESCAPE YOU:

 

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.
Ray Bradbury

AND REMEMBER:

There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.
Haruki Murakami



Writing Consultant Highlight - Morgan Keschl

Writing Consultant Highlight 

Morgan Keschl

Morgan is a senior Communication major who has an interest in working class images in media. With a tedious writing process, this consultant likes to unwind with unusual breeds of music. Morgan offers rather comforting advice to writers to start writing early and break it into pieces, as well as a more broad scope of the stresses of writing and deadlines.

See below for Morgan's insights:

As a writing consultant, you know how to put a paper together, but what is your writing process like?

My process, embarrassingly, is really monotonous. First, I use a few databases and research a general topic. Once I get enough articles on a general topic, I find what is in common between them and the differences as well as any outlying questions I have; this helps me form a thesis. Then I pull useful quotes and information from these sources, followed by making outlines by sections of my paper. 

 

The longest part of writing a paper is putting together the outline. I literally put all my information in order. Yes, this is nuts, but it makes writing the actual paper easy since I have a good guide. Still, this is not a fancy outline at all!

Let’s face it: No one is perfect. What is your biggest writing challenge?

I tend to be wordy and want to include as much detail as possible. I'm a pretty detail-oriented person, so I tend to think everything is relevant. There comes a point when I have to be more objective with myself.

How does your major help you become a better writer? How has Cedar Crest helped you become a better writer?

I am a weathered communication major, and naturally, writing is communication. I had the opportunity to be a staff writer, news editor, and managing editor of The Crestiad during my time at CCC, so that in itself is a style of writing that is creative and yet pretty mechanical. On the academic side, I love challenge of analyzing media content and writing about it. I'm also a research nerd \O--O/ so using my writing skills and my analytical skills is great.

What is something interesting not many people know about you?

Hmm, well, I am into metal, industrial, goth, and post-grunge music. My favorite bands have been Type O Negative and Six Feet Under, but I'm expanding my music scope as we speech. I like variety and my playlist is definitely interesting.

What is your favorite book? Why?

My favorite book would have to be Brave New World. I'm much more of a nonfiction person, but this is a good read. I read it a few years ago and it is about a future society that is very mechanical and the main character is struggling within it to be a more in-depth. I won't spoil the whole book for you!

 

What is your general advice to writers?

Be patient. You will get through it. By breaking writing into steps and starting well in advance, you will succeed. When in doubt, remember --this is only one minor aspect out of your whole life.

COMMENT BELOW TO OFFER MORGAN YOUR QUESTIONS AND FEEDBACK!